Everton

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Premier League Predictions

It’s the turn of the Premier League today.  Just a few more days till kick off after a great weekend of Football League action.

Anything could happen but here are my predictions:

  1. Chelsea (Champions)
  2. Manchester United
  3. Liverpool
  4. Everton
  5. Manchester City
  6. Arsenal
  7. Tottenham Hotspur
  8. Aston Villa
  9. Fulhum
  10. West Ham United
  11. Sunderland
  12. Blackburn Rovers
  13. Wigan Athletic
  14. Wolverhampton Wanderers
  15. Stoke City
  16. Birmingham City
  17. Bolton Wanderers
  18. Hull City (Relegated)
  19. Burnley (Relegated)
  20. Portsmouth (Relegated)

What do you reckon?  I do love a good bit of debate and disagreement.  On the other hand, I love flattery and encouragement so feel free to say that I have got it spot on and am a genius pundit.

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Out with a whimper

I spent much of this Premier League season haughtily publishing the top few places of the league table.  You may have noticed I haven’t done this for a while, for obvious reasons.  Out of our last 14 league matches we managed to win only twice!  Absolutely pitiful.  Just how poor we had become was totally evident yesterday as we only managed to limp past a disgracefully bad Newcastle through a flukey own goal.

The extent of the damage was masked by our terrific first half of the season.  Martin O’Neill must build the side over the summer if we are to have a chance of maintaining our top 6  ranking again.  I can see Man City, Tottenham, Fulham and West Ham being very strong next season.

It’s gonna be great to have three West Midlands sides in the top flight and I desperately hope Sheffield United will join us after today’s play off final.  I was genuinely gutted to see West Brom go down.  They are a great side and I’ve become quite fond of them since I started working in West Brom in September.

So, for your viewing pleasure, here is the final Premier League table to the 2008-9 season:

  1. Manchester United   90pts
  2. Liverpool   86pts 
  3. Chelsea   83 pts
  4. Arsenal   72pts
  5. Everton   63pts
  6. Aston Villa  62pts
  7. Fulham   53pts
  8. Tottenham Hotspurs   51pts
  9. West Ham United   51pts
  10. Manchester City   50pts
  11. Wigan Athletic   45pts
  12. Stoke City   45pts
  13. Bolton Wanderers   41pts
  14. Portsmouth   41pts
  15. Blackburn Rovers   41pts
  16. Sunderland   36pts
  17. Hull City   35pts
  18. Newcastle United   34pts    R
  19. Middlesborough   32pts    R
  20. West Bromwich Albion   32pts    R
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Glorious Villa should lead England

I always used to think that national teams were way better than club sides but in reality the best club sides in the world are probably better than the best national teams.  For example – Manchester United versus Brazil would surely end in a comfortable win for United as they have a great combination of world class players who work superbly together as a team.

These days the big four Premier League sides don’t have a huge amount of England players.  Aston Villa had more players in Spain than the big four put together!  Here is my cunning plan to secure world domination for the Engish national team:

Simply play Emile Heskey, Gabi Agbonlahor, James Milner and Ashley Young upfront and on the wings and then have Gareth Barry slot in behind them.  You really can’t say better than that!  Can you!?  Ha ha I’m a genius, who needs to pay Fabio Capello all that money!  And why not bung Curtis Davies and Luke Young in defence while we’re at it.  And just for fun, here’s the top of the Premier League table again:

  1. Manchester United    56pts
  2. Liverpool   54pts
  3. Aston Villa   51pts
  4. Chelsea   49pts
  5. Arsenal   44pts
  6. Everton   40pts
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A light diverson

Football is inconsequential and hollow in comparison to trying to work out what is going on under the skin of world issues and specifically the disaster that is Gaza at the moment.  Nevertheless, it is these small pleasures in life that make up the detail and provide a bit of fun and entertainment.  All the bigger issues are of paramount importance but I don’t believe we were designed to be consumed by them.

With that in mind I’d like to return my occasional attention to the Premier League.  It still makes pretty reading.  With a few minutes left of the Man U – Chelsea tie the table looks like this:

  1. Liverpool      46pts
  2. Chelsea      42pts
  3. Man Utd      41pts
  4. Aston Villa      41pts
  5. Arsenal      38pts
  6. Everton      35pts

Manchester United must be slight favourites now with their two games in hand and Liverpool’s dropped points at Stoke.  Consistent form from Everton has more or less turned the league into two divisions with a large gap down to the 14 relegation battling teams.

I am utterly delighted with Aston Villa.  We continue to churn out fantastic results despite some patchy performances but our general play feels classy and a grade above what I am used to as a Villa fan.  When was the last time Villa were still in with a shout of the treble by the end of January! 😉

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The mighty Villa!

Everton   2     Aston Villa  3

What an awesome match!  Managed to catch it on Match of the Day!  I can’t believe it!  The pundits afterwards were drooling, the loved it all – hard tackles, good referee, 11 British players on the pitch, 2 British managers, goals, excitement, good spirit.

It was a great match and Everton must have been heart broken to lose it but to be honest I can’t say I care!  We’re back up to 5th and I think I need to type out the table again for you all to have a look at!  I do apologise for the number of exclamation marks in the post but I’m so excited!!!!

  1. Liverpool   37pts
  2. Chelsea   36pts
  3. Manchester United   31pts
  4. Arsenal   29pts
  5. Aston Villa   28pts
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Villa in the big five

I was listening to Five Live this morning and Alan Green was summarising Middlesborough and Everton’s draw at Goodison Park.  He explained that had either side won they may have had aspirations of breaking into the big four.  He then corrected himself and questioned should it now be called the big five and include Villa!

  1. Chelsea    32pts
  2. Liverpool    32pts
  3. Manchester United    24pts
  4. Arsenal    23pts
  5. Aston Villa    23pts

I don’t want to claim that Villa have cut loose from the rest of the chasing pack.  It should be remembered that Everton actually finished fourth a few seasons ago.  Nevertheless, it didn’t half feel good to hear him say that.  Come on Villa!  Bring on Man U!

P.S.  Don’t forget to vote in my Sports Personality of the Year poll: